Exclusive: IPOs of Walmart’s Flipkart, PhonePe could take couple of years, Walmart exec says

Exclusive: IPOs of Walmart’s Flipkart, PhonePe could take couple of years, Walmart exec says

Keywords: IPO, Flipkart, PhonePe, Walmart, India

NEW DELHI, July 13 (Reuters) – Walmart Inc (WMT.N) does not expect initial public offerings (IPOs) of its Indian e-commerce unit Flipkart and digital payments firm PhonePe for at least another couple of years, a top Walmart executive said.

Walmart acquired about 77% of Flipkart in 2018, and has invested heavily in the Indian company as it seeks to compete with Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) in one of the world’s fastest-growing e-commerce markets.

PhonePe, which Flipkart bought four years ago, is now a leading digital payments provider in India, facilitating transactions worth more than $800 billion annually.

Both Flipkart and PhonePe have been profitable in recent quarters, but they still need to grow and expand their businesses before they are ready for an IPO, the Walmart executive said.

“We’re not in a hurry to take either company public,” the executive said, declining to be identified as they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter. “We want to make sure they’re both ready to be successful when they do go public.”

Flipkart is targeting revenue of $100 billion by 2027, and PhonePe is aiming to increase its annual transaction value to $1 trillion by 2026.

The Walmart executive said the company is confident in the long-term growth prospects of both Flipkart and PhonePe, and that an IPO is a natural next step for both companies.

“But we’re not going to rush it,” the executive said. “We want to make sure they’re both ready to be successful when they do go public.”